Jessica Newman, Lisa Wettleson and Barbara Hamel

Intercampus partnerships to merge space and resources are an important trend for academic libraries. Discovering common goals, securing stakeholder buy-in, charting an implementation timeline, and setting up staffing and funding models are all significant challenges for this type of collaboration. This poster describes a partnership between a large science research library and a campus institute for biology education to create a bioscience learning commons in the library, as well as an online presence, for both community and information building. The BioCommons, opening Fall 2014 inside Steenbock Library at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, will address the needs of undergraduates navigating a complex biology landscape, and will focus on the needs of first-year, first-generation, and underrepresented student groups. The physical and virtual spaces will serve as a home base for the biosciences where students can find information; become engaged in high-impact, beyond-the-classroom learning experiences; access existing and new support services; and integrate their experiences into a meaningful whole. The BioCommons creates a collaborative cross-campus networking framework for all faculty and staff, including librarians, who work with bioscience students.